You say one name in this town and people simply go INSANE! And that name is Johnny Depp.

Well, this certainly isn’t the first time people have cried “Wolf!” or “Johnny!” in our case. Last year, someone said they spotted him at a Port City Java, and within minutes the whole town was saying he was filming here. Well, we can thank the Star News’ Fran Norton for the most recent one and WWAY for reporting Fran’s story without doing their own homework. It was very short lived, so if you weren’t on FB or Twitter Friday morning, you probably missed it. But it really got me very aggravated. Why? Well, let me tell you how it all started.

It began with a CraigsList post:“Feature Film with Johnny Depp (Wilmington)”

“Feature Film with Johnny Depp currently casting for principal, supporting, and extra roles! Pay is up to $842.00 per day depending on role and experience!! Good Luck!”

Hmmmm. Time to do some digging. Now, anyone should know, a casting company for a A-list attached feature film does not use CraigsList. That is a red flag right there. But then the other two sources that were used to create this news story were from Facebook and AxcessTalent.com.

Clint, from Axcess Talent says they got it from EastCoastAuditions.net. Normally, the listings he gets are legit, so this bothered him as much as it bothered me. Since I spoke to Clint, very nice guy by the way, East Coast Talent still has not taken down the post, which was a replica of the CraigsList post. Clint no longer has Wilmington attached to the casting call.

As far as using the Facebook page as a “news source”, The Wilmington Casting Call page had the same verbage, it was from CraigsList. After I spoke to the admin, he agreed with me and removed the post as well.

I can hear Yoda right now: Long winded is she. Okay, getting to the point. Why was I so aggravated? Multiple reasons, so let me list them.

1) How many people sent their personal information to this CraigsList person because of our Wilmington “news” reporting? THAT IS HARMFUL. I cannot stress that enough. HARMFUL!

2) The Star News is not a rumor magazine. It is a news source we are “supposed” to trust! Do your homework!

3) Same goes for our TV news, they didn’t bother checking if the Star News did their homework. Again, we are supposed to trust you!

4) Facebook and CraigsList are not reliable sources for a big story!

5) Did I mention that Johnny Depp was the breaking news story Friday morning, with a huge picture of him on the home page of Starnewsonline.com. Argh!

With all that being said, I absolutely adore so many of the reporters here in our town. Jeff, Cassie, Ashley…no one can touch them, they are incredible. And yes, we all make mistakes. I certainly do all the time. But it seems as though the news lately, locally as well as nationally, doesn’t bother to check their sources, they just run with it and hopefully, it’s right. It felt like all they cared about was web views and it was a “lemme get this out there so we can be first” mindset. It would be one thing if there were TMZ, The Sun, or some entertainment magazine, but they are not. We count on them for reliable and accurate information.

So will the real Johnny Depp Movie please stand up! Please stand up!

I received a voicemail from the Staff Production Coordinator, Micaela Brown, who is currently on the Johnny Depp flick, Transcendence and she said, “I got your message and I am calling to confirm that you are correct in that Transcendence is NOT filming in North Carolina.” Depp’s other flick, Boston Mass, is already underway in South Boston.

I can tell you Transcendence will be filming a small piece of it in New Mexico this summer. That I know because I spoke with a casting company there who is currently casting day players and extras. It co-stars Paul Bettany, Morgan Freeman, and more.

Johnny Depp does have 20 other projects in development, so who knows, maybe one will come our way, next month, or next year. And after me going on and on about this, maybe I am missing something. Maybe he is coming. Hell, if that’s the case, PLEASE let me be wrong!